Still on the slaughtered Ibadan 10

Death, the grim reaper, was on a killing spree this week. At a time when a suspected Boko Haram member allegedly confessed to murdering over 23 persons in just one day, Nigeria’s tales of woes, pains and anguish did not show any sign of abating. Instead, the gods of sorrow seem to be baying for more blood. In just one week of cold-blooded lunacy, over 100 lives perished—all victims of a murderous callousness.We may have accepted the presidential verdict that terrorism, with its differing shades and forms, is something we have to live with until such a time when the security apparatuses bumble their way through a solution that will reduce the carnage. We may also, in some queer way, appreciate the security institutions for their stellar display of impotence in addressing the matter. We do understand their bland dumbness in condemning the killings, even if they deny being overwhelmed by the brewing anarchy. How, for heaven’s sake, can you be “on top” of a situation that continues to choke you with great intensity?

The question is: what pushes these killers to embark on the kind of gory rampage that the country has witnessed in the past few months? First, they bombed the churches and we clasped our arms like supplicants, waiting for the divine wrath of God to fall on the wicked. Then they moved to the mosques, wiping out hundreds of lives of peaceful worshippers. It did not take them time to prosecute their messages of destruction on our streets, offices, garages, prisons and even relaxation spots. Still, we cling on to the hope that the sickening savagery would soon thin out. We watched as the monster took a life of its own, shredding whatever was left of our humanity. Now, death is just a number. Our headlines are printed in crying crimson. Our stories are not just heart-wrenching, they evoke helpless anger. Except for the 1967 – 1970 Nigerian civil war, never in the history of our country has the story of death been written with such sadistic arrogance. It’s bad enough that premeditated murder is gradually becoming the order of the day in some communities. Worse still is the unmitigated cruelty that these agents of sorrow continue to inflict on hapless citizens.

Of course, we knew we were dealing with demented souls. What we did not know was how far they have gone in raw bestiality. The irony in the tale is that the ever vocal human rights community hardly gives as much as a whimper when this banal criminality is being unleashed on law-abiding citizenry. Hundreds were massacred in Kano and this community of human rights fighters was coldly silent. No one reminded the gun-toting, bomb-throwing, throat-slitting bigots that they had crossed the bounds of decency and had trampled on people’s inalienable right to life. No one reminded them of the illegality of attempting to force others to live according to the dictates of their beliefs. When our streets were splattered with the blood of the innocent, the voices of the ‘elders’ were annoyingly tempered. It did not spark the kind of sanctimonious umbrage against the authorities which is now, belatedly, battling to excise the monster and restore some form order in key battleground states.

We need not recant all the killings, maiming and sheer sadism that have been visited on this country since the insurgents took to the battlefields presumably to avenge the extra-judicial killings of their leader and members of his family. What confounds is the limitless bloodletting. We are constrained to ask: how many more lives would have to be lost before the sect members would be satisfied that they have truly inflicted the maximum penalty on the rest of us for a ‘sin’ that we know nothing about? Would they wipe out the whole of Nigeria and slaughter death in order to ensure a complete rout of those they label infidels? If not, then who exactly are their enemies and would there ever be a middle ground in this sickening war?

In all the stories of killings that happened during the week, I couldn’t help but shiver at the cruelty that was meted to the Ibadan 10. Here I speak of the beans merchants from Ibadan whose lives came to an abrupt end in Borno State. Like many ordinary folks eking out a living in our economically tough terrain where the executive and legislature are locked in a battle of wits over an Appropriation Act that has remained ‘un-implementable’ seven months into the year, these traders had braced the odds to engage in legitimate business in the volatile region. They never had the inkling that they would be the latest victims of a war that is short on common sense and empty of any rules of engagement. They were ambushed in Munguno, commanded to lie flat on the road and pumped with hot lead. The 10 victims that had been accounted for out of about 25 were soaked in rain of bullets.

In all the stories of killings that happened during the week, I couldn’t help but shiver at the cruelty that was meted to the Ibadan 10.Here I speak of the beans merchants from Ibadan whose life (lives) came to anabrupt end in Borno State. Like many ordinary folks eking (out) a living in oureconomically tough terrain where the executive and legislature are locked in a battleof wits over an Appropriation Act that has remained ‘un-implementable’ seven months into the year, these traders had braced the odds toengage in legitimate business in the volatile region. They never hadthe inkling that they would be the latest victims of a war that is short on common sense and empty of any rules of engagements (engagement). They wereambushed in Munguno, commanded to lie flat on the road and pumped with a rain of bullets.

Unsure that the rain of lead had done the maximum damage, a lucky survivor of the attack, TaoheedAdewuyi, said he watched, with deep grief, as the throat of one of the fallen traders was slit. He recounted their ordeal: “They stopped us along the way and asked us to come down from the vehicle and lie down. They thereafter started shooting us one after the other as we lay on the ground. I was the third in row. I was shot but the bullet did not hit me very well. I was gone. It was after an hour that I discovered that I was still alive. When they discovered that one of the victims was still breathing, one of the attackers went into their car pulled a knife with which he ‘slaughtered’ him. I almost cried out at that time but I could not do so.”

That was one horrific sight anyone with a soul would not like to witness. It is obvious that these harbingers of death neither have souls nor conscience. Need we ask why this sort of madness persists in our society? We all know why. If over 60 security personnel could be killed in one night and the government is still wringing its hands in submission to the will of God, these evil men in our midst would only be emboldened to perpetrate more killings. They know full well that paying lip service to the determination of bring them to justice is the government’s perfect alibi for its wailing incompetence. Exactly why death has become so cheap and hundreds of souls are being wiped out weekly.

We beg the question if we blame the Ibadan 10 for daring to travel to a volatile place like Borno for a legitimate business. It is easy to question the sense in travelling with over N22m cash on this road to perdition when there are better and safer methods of transferring money. But it does not preclude the fact the Ibadan 10 and countless many others killed in cold blood were victims of a collapsed security system. When evils forces parade the land, those saddled with the responsibility of protecting the citizens would have to do more than lamenting and condoling with families of the fallen victims. And so, in ending this piece, the words of the Babaloja of Oyo State, Chief DaudaAdisaOladapo, comes to mind. He asked: “When will this government take drastic measures on the Boko Haram insurgency? Is it after they have killed all of us that the government will act?”

For now, the answer to that question hangs within the realm of conjecture. This government has been rendered prostrate by narrow-minded pursuit of lucre and extended stay in office while ethnic politicking and lethargic governance have become the order of the day! How then can we exhale?